continued  “I’m going to rely on the board — that’s their job!” he said. “The board is really the backbone in the community. They’re the ones that make or break the decisions. Sometimes the mayor’s there just to take the glory while it’s the board that’s doing all the work.”

Whorrall is familiar with what it takes to oversee a board meeting. As the fire chief, he’s required to attend every one. And when you multiply 30-plus years as fire chief times at 12-plus meetings per year, well, that’s a lot of meetings.

It seems like not much has changed around the fire station since his announcement. Whorrall is spending much of his time in meetings as well as responding to calls and joking around with his staff. He’s just returned from Clearwater Beach, Fla., where his department received a national award for recruitment and retention.

But for now, Whorrall’s just beginning to look ahead to how his campaign is going to be run. He isn’t allowed to start until Jan. 1, but he said he has some ideas in the works. He didn’t offer much about what his plans are, but he did hint at a thing or two.

“This could be an ugly election, but it won’t be because of me,” he said with a smile.